Two men killed for honour in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Two men were killed by their in-laws in the capital for honour, police said on Monday.

This takes to four the number of murders which have been reported in Islamabad over the past six days, with the police yet to nab the suspects.

Of the four men killed over the past week, two were allegedly gunned down in suspected ‘honour killings’ when their in-laws did not approve of their ‘love marriages’.

Both ‘honour killings’ took place on Sunday in which two men were shot dead by their brothers-in-law since they did not approve of the victims’ marriage to their sisters.

Police said they had found the body of 21-year-old Syed Roz on Sunday evening in Bhara Kahu with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. Roz’s wife later told the police that her brothers and uncles had allegedly killed her husband as they did not approve of their ‘love marriage’.

Police officials said that the two had married in Lahore around two years ago and had fled to Karachi fearing a backlash from the girl’s family. They later moved to Islamabad.

“They had married without the consent of the girl’s family and had been living in hiding all along,” a police officer said.

The widow identified the suspects as Nasir Khan, Ikram, Ayub, Dawai Khan, Toor Khan. However, none of them had been arrested so far.

Meanwhile, police have sent the victim’s widow to a safe home since she fears that the suspects may kill her as well.

In the second incident of honour killing, a man was shot multiple times in Sohan, within the jurisdiction of Khanna police.

Police said Muhammad Bilal had intercepted and shot Muhammad Rashid multiple times with a pistol. Another man accompanying the Rashid at the time was also injured in the attack.

Police later discovered that 20-year-old Rashid had married Bilal’s sister around two years ago. Bilal though disapproved of the union.

Bilal, though, is still at large.

On the night of March 3, 33-year-old Rashid Mehmood had been stabbed to death over a parking dispute in Jhang Syedan area on Lehtrar Road.

Police are on the lookout for five men who allegedly stabbed Mehmood to death. A police investigator told The Express Tribune that a dispute arising out of a vehicle parked in front of a butcher’s shop had led to a clash between two groups. The larger group of five people attacked Mehmood, his brother Akmal and his cousin Khayam with knives. While Mehmood succumbed to his injuries, Akmal and Khayam survived with injuries.

“The suspects, who ran a butcher’s shop in Jhang Syedan area on Lehtrar Road, objected to the victims’ car parked in front of their shop, which led to the fight,” the officer said. Koral police had subsequently booked five men identified as Shahnawaz, Saeed, Tasadduq, Zahid and Khanu for murder and attempted murder.

On March 1, Sabzi Mandi police had registered a murder case against unidentified assailants after the body of a 30-year-old man was found from a stream in Sector I-11. The body has yet to be identified. The doctors, however, have confirmed that the man was tortured to death. Police are awaiting his fingerprints identification report by the NADRA.

On Monday, Secretariat police also found a body dumped in the jungle along Korang Road. Police said the man, aged between 30-35 years, had not been identified yet while his fingerprints had been sent to NADRA for identification.

Police said they did not suspect that the man had been murdered since they found no clues which pointed to it.